Adjustable guide for fibrous material



y 1969 s. W.'KUNDRACH ADJUSTABLE GUIDE FOR FIBROUS MATERIAL wvmra/r 5721/5 W Al/A/DRAC/l Filed March 6, 1967 FIG .5

United States Patent 3,445,048 ADJUSTABLE GUIDE FOR FIBROUS MATERIAL Steve W. Kundrach, South Euclid, Ohio, assignor to The Warner & Swasey Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Mar. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 620,900 Int. Cl. B65h 23/32 US. Cl. 226-199 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fibrous material guide member has a material engaging surface and is connected to a support member by a spring means. The spring means includes a spring body portion tightly engaging a surface of the guide member and spring arms extending from the guide member to the support member. The spring arms each have an opening through which the suport member extends and each spring arm has a tab portion which is located adjacent the opening. Each tab portion is angularly disposed relative to its respective spring arm and is urged into engagement with the support member by its spring arm to lock the guide member in a fixed position relative to the support member. The tabs have pointed projections which bite into the material of the snport member, and the spring arms are de-fiectible to move the projections out of engagement with the support member to permit sliding movement of the guide member and spring means along the support member.

The present invention relates to a material guide, and particularly to a fibrous material guide having a guide member and a means for adjustably connecting the guide member to a support.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved material guide having a guide member which is carried on a suport, and wherein the guide is simple in construction, easily manufactured, and readily adjustable to, and locked at, a desired location on the support member.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved fibrous material guide wherein the means which adjustably connects the guide member to the support includes a pair of arm members having openings through which the support member extends and which arm members have respective locking portions urged into locking engagement with the support member.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved fibrous material guide in which the locking portions which are urged into locking engagement with the support member are urged in opposite directions and include manually engageable portions movable toward each other so as to efiect movement of the locking portions to a release position and thus provide for easy adjustment thereof along the support.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved fibrous material guide wherein the guide member is connected to the support by a spring means which includes spaced spring arm members which are biased away from each other and into locking position with respect to a locking surface of the support member and which are movable toward each other to release the guide for movement along the support.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved guide for textile fibers including a supoprt member ,a guide member, and spring means connecting the guide member to the support member and which spring means includes a pair of arm 3,445,048 Patented May 20, 1969 members extending between the guide member and the support member and wherein one arm member is a spring arm and includes a portion urged into locking engagement with the support member to lock the guide member relative to the support member and wherein the portion of the spring arm is movable away from engagement with the support member by deflection of the spring arm to permit adjusting movement of the guide relative to the support member.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved guide for textile fibers, as set forth in the next preceding paragraph, wherein the support member is rotatable about an axis to permit adjustment of the guide member about theaxis of rotation of the support member.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved fibrous material guide which is carried on a support member and which is adjustable along the support member as well as angularly with respect to the support member.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description thereof made with reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of an apparatus embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view, taken approximately along the section line 2-2 of FIG. 1:

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, taken approximately along the section line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view looking at the apparatus of FIG. 3 as indicated by line 44 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.

The present invention provides an improved guide for fibrous material, such as textile slivers. FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of a textile apparatus embodying the present invention and while in the illustrated embodiment of the invention a creel 10 is shown including adjustable guides in the form of pot eyes, it will become apparent from the followng description that a guide which embodies the invention can be utilized in many environments for different purposes.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the creel 10 includes frame members 11, 12 and 13 which are in the form of channellike members and which are supported in spaced relation to a floor of a building, not illustrated, by suitable supporting legs 14, 15. The spacing of the frame members from the floor of the building is such that cans containing textile fibrous material may be placed beneath the frame members 1113 at desired locations. The number of cans disposed beneath the frame members varies according to the type and size of the equipment being used and, for purposes of illustration only, two such cans 16, 17 are illustrated in FIG. 1.

Strands X of the fibrous textile material, known as sliver, are fed from the cans to a gill box, or other suitable processing mechanism (not shown). A plurality of rotatable feeding rolls 20, only two of which are shown, are supported on the side frame members 11 and 12. The feeding rolls 20 feed the sliver from cans, depending upon the position thereof. As illustrated in FIG. 1, only one feeding roll is operating to feed the sliver. As illustrated, sliver from the cans 16, 17 is fed toward the right, as viewed in FIG. 1, by the feeding roll 20 located to the right in FIG. 1. It is to be recognized that the side frames 11, 12 can support numerous feeding rolls and that such rolls, if positioned to the right of the roll 20 of FIG. 1,

3 would also effect feeding of the sliver extending thereacross.

The feeding rolls 20 may be supported in any suitable manner by the side frames 11, 12 but in the preferred embodiment, each roll 20 includes a stub shaft portion 21 extending from its ends and which stub shaft portions are journaled in yoke-like bearing members 22 which are secured to the side frames 11, 12. Each of the rolls 20 includes grooves on its periphery which extend longitudinally of the roll and generally parallel to the axis of the rotation of the roll. The grooves provide toothlike projections in the roll which frictionally engage the sliver to feed the sliver upon rotation of the roll. The rolls 20 are driven at a predetermined rate by a suitable belt 23, shown in broken lines in FIG. 1, which is preferably a timing belt and is driven by suitable power means, such as an electric motor. The speed at which the electric motor drives the rolls can be controlled in any suitable manner, such as by the use of variable pitch pulleys so as to feed the sliver at a controlled rate.

The sliver which is lifted fro-m the cans 16, 17 is directed onto the periphery of the feeding roll 20 by a guide means 25 which includes a guide member, or pot eye 26, a support member, or adjustment rail 27, and spring means 28 connecting the pot eye 26 to the adjustment rail 27. The adjustment rail 27 is an elongated member, generally rectangular in cross section, which extends between the side frames 11, 12. The adjustment rail 27 includes bent end portions 30 which are adjustably secured to a block 31 positioned within the channel-like frame members 11, 12. The blocks 31 are preferably secured to the webs of the frame members 11, 12 by suitable screws 32 which extend through openings in the webs and into threaded openings in the blocks 31.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the adjustment rails 27 are rotatable relative to the blocks 31 to permit adjustment of the orientation of the pot eyes 26 relative to the cans 16, 17 and the rolls 20, and for this purpose the end portions 30 of the adjustment rails 27 include apertures 33 therein which loosely surround screws 34 which are threaded into the blocks 31. The screws 34 may be loosened to permit rotation of the guide rail 27 about the axis of the screws 34 to a desired position, after which the screws are again tightened to clamp the end portions 30 of the adjustment rail 27 against the blocks 31 and maintain the adjustment rail in its adjusted posi tion. Two such positions of the adjusting rail are shown in FIG. 1. Rotation of the adjustment rail 27 effects a change in the angularity between the sliver approaching the roll 20 and the sliver being fed from the roll 20 and thus changes the amount of frictional engagement between the roll and the sliver.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 25, the guide member or pot eye 26 is a generally annular member which is preferably constructed of a porcelain material, and includes a curved sliver engaging guide surface 40 at its inner periphery to permit the sliver to flow smoothly through the pot eye. When the adjusting rail 27 is in its position illustrated in FIG. 3, the sliver is lifted from the cans to the pot eye 26 along a generally vertical line, passes across the curved guide surface 40, and is directed from the pot eye in a generally horizontal direction. The outer periphery of the pot eye 26 includes a circumferential groove 41, which provides a peripheral support surface 42 engaged by the spring means 28.

The spring means 28 is formed of a relatively thin strip of spring material and includes a semicylindrical body portion 45 which tightly grips the support surface 42 or the pot eye 26, and arm portions 46, 47 formed integrally with the body portion 45 and which extend from the pot eye to the adjustment rail 27. The arm portions 46, 47 are urged in opposite directions and preferably are spring arms urged by their own resiliency. The spring arms 46, 47 are deflectible and respectively terminate in enlarged end portions 50, 51 which include Slot-like openings 52,

53 through which the adjustment rail 27 extends. Tabs, or ears 54, 55 extend from the end portions 50, 51 toward the body portion 45 of the spring. The tabs 54, 55 are preferably bent outwardly of the plane of the end portions 50, 51 to form an acute angle therewith.

The pot eye 26 with the spring means 28 assembled thereon is mounted on the adjustment rail 27 by passing the adjustment rail 27 through the openings 52, 53 in the spring arms 46, 47.

The apertures 52, 53 are of such size that there is a substantial amount of clearance between the sides of the apertures and the adjustment rail 27 when the plane of the enlarged end portions 50, 51 of the spring arms is maintained normal to the adjustment rail. This clearance is best shown in FIG. 3 and designated Y. This clearance allows for varying the angularity disposition of the guide member 26 relative to the support 27. The dotted lines designated Z in FIG. 4 illustrate an angular position of the guide member with respect to the support 27.

The angular adjustment of the guide member renders the guide capable of guiding lateral turning of the sliver. Such lateral turning movement of the sliver is particularly important at the output end of a gill box to effect guiding of the sliver laterally to align the sliver with a suitable delivery mechanism. In an apparatus using a single gill box through which a pair of slivers are advanced, the angular adjustment of guide members is effective to guide lateral movement of the slivers so that each sliver is properly delivered to separate sliver balling mechanisms.

The spring arms 46, 47 are constructed so that the enlarged end portions 50, 51 are urged toward their respective adjacent side frame members 11, 12 by the spring arms 46, 47 as the spring arms seek a relaxed position. As the spring arms move toward a relaxed position, the tab portions 54, 55 are urged into engagement with a surface 60 of the adjusting rail 27 on the remote side of the rail 27 from the pot eye 26 so that the spring arms 46, 47 assume their positions illustrated in solid lines in FIGS. 2-5. As shown in these drawings, the spring arms extend in outwardly diverging directions proceeding away from the pot eye 26 and are angularly disposed relative to the plane of the surface 60.

The tabs 54, 55 each include a plurality of pointed projections 61 at their ends which bite into the surface 60 of the adjusting rail 27 when the spring arms are in their afore-mentioned positions and firmly resist movement of the pot eye and spring means longitudinally of the adjustment rail 27. The projections 61 engage the surface 60 at spaced locations thereacross with substantially equal pressure so that rotational movement of the pot eye 26 and spring means 28 about the adjusting rail 27 is also resisted.

If it is desired to change the position of the pot eye 26 longitudinally relative to the adjustment rail 27 to accommodate changes in position of the cans 16, 17 relative to the frame members 11, 12, the end portions 50, 51 of the spring means 28 are manually moved toward each other to deflect the portions 54, 55 of the spring arm-s 46, 47. As the spring arms are moved toward their positions illustrated in dotted lines in FIG. 2, the projections 61 on the tabs 54, 55 are moved out of engagement with the surface 60 of the adjusting rail 27 to permit manual sliding of the pot eye 26 and spring means 28 longitudinally along the adjustment rail. When the pot eye and spring means have been moved to a desired location on the adjustment rail 27, the end portions 50, 51 of the spring arms 46, 47 are released and the spring arms return to their positions illustrated in solid lines in FIGS. 25 to again lock the pot eye against movement relative to the adjustment rail, as previously described.

It can now be seen that the objects heretofore enumerated and others have been accomplished and that there has been provided an improved adjustable guide for fibrous material. While but a single embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described herein in considerable detail, the invention is not to be considered limited to the precise construction shown. It is my intention to cover hereby all adaptations, modifications, and uses of the present invention which come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A fibrous material guide comprising a support member, 21 fibrous material guide member having a surface over which the material is advanced, means for adjustably securing said guide member on said support member, said means including a first part engaging and supporting said guide member and a pair of arm members extending from said first part toward said support member, each of said arm members having an opening through which said support member extends, said arm members including respective locking portions urged relatively in one direction into locking engagement with spaced portions of said support member and movable relatively in the opposite direction to respective release positions permitting adjusting movement thereof along said support.

2. A fibrous material guide comprising a support member, a fibrous material guide member having a surface over which the material is advanced, means for adjustably securing said guide member on said support member, said means including a first part engaging and supporting said guide member and a pair of arm members extending from said first part toward said support member, each of said arm members having an opening through which said support member extends, said arm members including respective locking portions urged relatively in one direction into locking engagement with spaced portions of said support member and movable relatively in the opposite direction to respective release positions permitting adjusting movement thereof along said support, said locking portions including tab portions which have a locking engagement with the same surface of said support member, and said tab portions are urged in opposite directions into locking engagement with said support member and are moved toward each other to said respective release positions.

3. A fibrous material guide as defined in claim 2 wherein said arm members are spring members and said tab portions extend angularly relative thereto.

4. A fibrous material guide comprising a support member, .a fibrous material guide member having -a surface over which the material is advanced, means for adjustably securing said guide member on said support member, said means including a first part engaging and supporting said guide member and a pair of arm members extending from said first part toward said support member, each of said arm members having an opening through which said support member extends, said arm members including respective locking portions urged relatively in one direction into locking engagement with spaced portions of said support member and movable relatively in the opposite direction to respective release positions permitting adjusting movement thereof along said support, said openings in said arm members being larger in cross section than said support member and providing clearance for adjustment in respect to the longitudinal axis of the support member.

5. A fibrous material guide comprising a support member, a guide member having a material engaging surface, and spring means for connecting said guide member to said support member, said spring means including a first part engaging and supporting said guide member and spaced spring arm members extending to said support member, each of said arm members comprising a deflectible spring arm urged away from each other and to a locking position relative to a locking surface of said support member, each of said spring arms including a locking .part urged into engagement with said locking surface of said support member by its respective spring arm to lock said guide member and said spring means to said support member, said spaced spring arm members being resiliently deflectible toward each other and away from said locking position to move said locking parts from engagement with said surface of said support member to thereby release said guide member for adjusting movement relative to said support member.

6. A guide as described in claim 5 wherein each of said spring arms includes an opening adjacent an end thereof through which said support member extends, said locking surface of said support member being remote from said guide member, and said locking part of each of said spring arms bounding said opening in its respective arm at a side thereof adjacent said locking surface.

7. A guide as defined in claim 6 wherein each of said locking parts comprises a tab portion angularly disposed relative to said spring arm and urged into engagement with said locking surface, and said tab portions have projections thereon which tightly frictionally engage said locking surface.

8. A guide as defined in claim 5 wherein each of said spring arms includes an end portion manually engageable to effect movement of the end portions toward each other to deflect said spring arms and move said locking parts away from engagement with said locking surface.

9. A guide for directing fibrous material in a textile processing apparatus including a roll member engaging the material, said guide comprising a support member connected to a frame member of said apparatus, a guide member having a material engaging guide surface, spring means for locking said guide member in position on said support member and releasable to permit adjusting movement of said guide member along said support member, and means providing rotation of said support member about a line generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of said support member to adjust the position of said material engaging guide surface about said axis relative to said roll member to vary the engagement between said roll member and the material.

10. A guide as defined in claim 9 wherein said spring means includes at least one spring arm member having a portion engaging said support member and operative to resist movement of said guide member along said support member, and said spring arm member being defiec-tible to move said portion out of locking engagement with said support member to permit adjusting movement of said guide member along said longitudinal axis of said support member.

11. A guide as defined in claim 9 wherein said means providing for rotation of said support member includes a pivotal connection between said support member and said frame member, said connection operative to prevent relative rotation between said frame member and said support member when said support member is in an adjusted posit-ion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 484,335 10/1892 Moss 24-257 1,369,008 2/1921 Christen 2481 2,894, 774 9/1957 Dudash 24257 X 2,961,479 1l/l960 Bertling 2481 X 3,107,932 10/1963 Johnson et al. 2481 X 3,108,828 10/1963 Kus 24-81 X 3,130,453 4/1964 'Haigler 226-499 X 3,377,008 4/ 1968 Sutton 226199 X FOREIGN PATENTS 670,886 9/1963 Canada.

960,508 10/ 1949 France.

ALLEN N. KNOWLES, Primary Examiner. 

